Mechanism for supporting and facilitating the manipulation of papers



Oct. 30, 1962 s. J. OHARA MECHANISM FOR SUPPORTING AND FACILITATING THE MANIPULATION OF PAPERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 11, 1958 FIG. I

INVENTOR.

STEPHEN J. OHARA ms ATTORNEYS v m Q lllil' Oct. 30, 1962 J OHARA 3,060,939

. S. MECHANISM FOR SUPPORTING AND FACILITATING THE MANIPULATION 0F PAPERS Filed June 11, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 22 2O 2lo O 4 United States Patent Office 3,960,939 Patented Oct. 30, 1952 3369,9399 MECHANISM F853 SUPPORTKNG FACILI- TATDIG THE MANTPULATIGN OF PAPERS Stephen J. OHara, Bronxville, N.Y. (405 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJ.) Fiied June 11, 1958, Sel. No. 741,286 6 Claims. (Cl. 1218) This invention relates to apparatus or mechanism for preserving business papers. More specifically, the invention relates to an improved mechanism for supporting such papers in orderly arrangement and facilitating their manipulation in such a Way that sheets may be quickly interleaved and inserted, or removed. The apparatus is intended for holding sheets of paper which are relatively flexible as compared to the usual stifi filing cards.

What has been referred to as the growing torrent of paper which is poured out daily by oflices (such, for example, as correspondence, record sheets, financial statements, bills, etc.), is becoming more and more of a problem and requires a disproportionate share of labor for its handling. The aim of my present invention is to provide mechanism which will aid to a very considerable extent in the solution of this problem.

The purpose of my present invention is to provide mechanism so constructed as to support the sheets in a still better manner and to provide for still greater ease of manipulation of the sheets than in the devices of my copending application Serial No. 621,621, filed November 13, 1956, now abandoned, and of my prior Patent No. 2,716,410, granted August 30, 1955.

My improved apparatus supports the flexible sheets by sustaining or hanging them in edgewise position on one or more horizontal rails or rods and in such a manner that they have freedom to slide in either direction laterally while being held independently secure and in alignment, the sheets at the same time being maintained in fluid condition, by which is meant that they can be readily manipulated to locate individual sheets or for interleaving, insertion or removal of sheets.

My improved apparatus is arranged to support the sheets by suspension in vertical edgewise position in groups of a limited number, such, for example, as about a hundred sheets with the sheets of each group in contact with one another, but wherein the sheets of each group are slidably arranged on the rods or rails in such a way as to permit the rapid interleaving, insertion, or the removal of one or more sheets without affecting the security of support or the alignment of the sheets of the group or groups.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus which supports the sheets in groups, each having a limited number of sheets with the sheets in each group in contact with one another, but with the groups spaced apart from one another.

Another object of the present invention is to still further improve the mechanism for holding or locking and quickly releasing the sheets of any group without affecting the security or alignment of the remaining sheets of the group.

Another object of the invention is to provide such locking or holding mechanism in a form which can .be more quickly and easily actuated by the operator of the filing device.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide for the support of the sheets in such a manner as to overcome to a greater extent than heretofore the tendency for edgewise supported sheets to wilt, slump, warp or curl, particularly when they are of very thin paper, such as onion skin.

The invention will be better understood by a consideration of the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating three embodiments thereof. In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view of the filing device in front elevation; FIG. 2 is a view in vertical section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detailed vertical section drawn to an enlarged scale and taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of a modified form of the filing device;

FIG. 5 is a considerably enlarged fragmentary plan view of a portion of the device of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 with parts shown at different positions;

FIG. 7 is a detailed vertical section taken on line 77 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a front view of the parts shown in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a sheet of paper intended for use with the form of apparatus shown in FIGS. 48.

Referring now to FIGS. 13 my improved apparatus supports the sheets 1 suspended in vertical edgewise position, the individual sheets being arranged in a plurality of groups 2., 2a, 2b and 20. These groups may or may not be of uniform thickness and advantageously contain not more than about a hundred sheets. Also the sheets of the several groups may be of different dimensions, the sheets in the group at the extreme right being of the usual letter size and those of the other groups being smaller at least in height.

The apparatus may be constructed of sheet metal, plastic or other suitable material and comprises an upright frame or panel 3 which stands at the rear of a base 4. The base is provided with cushioned feet, as indicated, for resting on the surface of a table, desk or other support. At the ends of the back panel 3 there may be head panels 5 which project forwardly at right angles to the back and parallel to one another. These may serve to support two parallel stationary vertically spaced rails or rods 6 and 7, the opposite ends of these rods being secured by screws 8, as indicated, which are threaded into the ends of the rods. At the top of the back panel 3 a rearward extension 9 is provided which supports a hand rest 10 of plastic or wood and on which one hand of the operator (usually the left hand) can be rested in manipulating the device, as will appear later.

The right hand end panel 5 may serve as one of a number of stationary vertical plates, and arranged parallel with this panel are a number of other stationary vertical plates 11 which are Welded or otherwise fixed at suitably spaced intervals to the upright rear wall or frame 3 of the device. Cooperating with these respective stationary plates are corresponding movable vertical plates 12, both plates 11 and 12 being of a comparatively rigid nature.

Suitable means are provided for mounting the respective plates 12 for bodily movement parallel to and with respect to their cooperating stationary plates 11 and the right end plate 5, and also so as to hold them in clamped position when moved against a group of sheets which is held on its opposite side by one of the stationary plates. shown, the several movable plates 12 are mounted for such independent sliding movement on the upper rail or rod 6. This is accomplished for each plate by a sleeve 13 which is arranged to slide on rod 6 and which is fixed within a bore in a spool-shaped member or handle 14. This member is provided with an inner flange 15 by which it is secured to one of the plates 12 by means of screws 16, or otherwise. It also has an outer flange 17 which is readily grasped by the fingers to shift the movable plate.

The internal diameter of sleeve 13 is enough larger than rod 6 so that when the sleeve is canted slightly with respect to the rod a clutch action takes place preventing relative movement between them. By grasping the handle 14 the sleeve and the movable plate 12 supported thereb'y can be shifted against or away from a group of sheets. When the plate is moved against a group of sheets, however, the portion of the group in the vicinity of the handle 14 will becompressed slightly between its two engaging plates", and the resiliency of the portion of the group towards the outer vertical edges ofthe plates will produce a slight tilting of movable plate 12 about a vertical axis. This will cause the canting of sleeve 13, above referred t6, and the resulting clutch action, together with the triotion of the sleeve on the rod 6, will hold the plate in clamping position.

- It may be understood that the lower rear edge of each of the plates 12 contacts the rear frame panel 3 so as to maintain the plates in substantially upright position, clear ance being provided with respect to lower rail 7.

The individual sheets 1 have two notches 18 cut in their inner or rear edges. These notches are of appropriate shape to form downwardly projecting tongues 19, the lower ends of which are spaced above the bottoms of the thus formed notches, which are of a somewhat L-shaped formation with lateral openings 20 advantageously rounded or flared as shown at the rear edge of the sheet. The notches enable the sheets 1 to be supported by resting the tops of the notches on the respective upper and lower supporting rails or rods 7 so that the sheets individually hang in suspended position on these rails.

When correspondence, such as letters, copies of letters, etc., are to be stored, probably the most widely used conventional method of operation is by means of the ordinary ofiice hand punch perforating each sheet either at the top or along one side with a pair of uniformly spaced circular holes, usually about hi in diameter. When such paper is to be stored in the apparatus of the present invention, instead of using such a punch a special punch is to be used which will cut the pair of uniformly spaced notches, such as shown at 18, or of a form to be described later. The use of my apparatus, therefore, does not entail any great divergence from the customary oflice procedure, the only diflerence being that a punch which forms notches is used instead of a punch that forms holes instead of perforations.

The sheets of paper contained in the various groups between the respective pairs of stationary and movable clamping plates 11 and 12 may all be of the same height or may be of different heights, as shown in FIG. 1. In the case of the sheets in group 20 their height is so short that they are supported entirely by the upper rail 6 and, consequently, these sheets have only a single notch 18 and tongue 19. The dimensions of the sheets of group 2, the tallest sheets, will ordinarily be the dimensions of standard correspondence paper, such, for example, as eight and a half inches in width by eleven inches in height. The horizontal dimension, or width, of the sheets in groups 2, 2a, 2b and 20 may be alike or difierent, depending upon the requirements of the particular installation.

When any movable plate 12 is shifted to the left to release a group of sheets the sheets of the group are tree to slide laterally on the rails while at the same time being secure and held in alignment with one another in upright and fluid condition to permit the sheets to be manipulated to locate, interleave, or remove one or more sheets.

Any conventional way of sub-dividing the sheets of the several groups for convenience may be utilized. As shown, each of the groups of sheets is sub-divided by means of index cards having tabs 21 which ordinarily will bear the letters of the alphabet, or numbers, as the situation may require. Also for titling the respective groups 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, etc., each of the movable plates 12 may be provided with an upward projection 22 upon which any desired title or designation may be placed.

In the ordinary ofiice any required number of the filing units, from one to several hundred or more, may be required depending upon the volume of paper to be handled. It is intended that the filing units be placed in rows on tables of appropriate height so that the operator sitting at the table may readily reach the handles 14 and the index tabs. The operator faces the left end of this filing mechanism (see FIG. 2) and places her left hand on the hand rest 10 and with the fingers pulls the handle 14 of the particular group which is of interest at the moment, and by pulling this handle towards her separates its movable plate 12 from this group of sheets. She then locates by means of the tabs 21 the particular point at which it may be desired to interleave and insert an additional sheet.

Inasmuch as the individual sheets of each group slide readily along the rails 6 and 7 from which they hang, the operator is enabled to separate the group at the point where the sheet is to be inserted and then hang this sheet on the rails. She is then ready to take up the next item which may be an insertion at a different place or in a different group, or the interleaving of a sheet, or the removal of a sheet from one of the groups. The sheet which is to be removed can be quickly located by separating the sheets of the group into two portions by sliding the left-hand portion along the rails. The desired sheet can be isolated and removed by an upward and then an outward motion which unhooks the tongues 19 from their respective rails 6 and 7.

The fact that the sheets in each of the groups 2, 2a, etc., project forwardly some distance beyond the front edges of the positioning and clamping plates 11 and 12, and also the fact that the respective groups are spaced apart somewhat from each other by the spacing apart of the respective pairs of clamping plates, enables the forward portions of the sheets of each group to be bent or swung to the left or towards the operator, since the left end (FIG. 1) of the filing unit faces her rather than the front side. Such bending manipulation of the sheets facilitates the operation of locating the particular sheet of the group which it is desired to remove, or the particular point in the group where it is desired to interleave or to insert.

As long as the sheets of the various groups are in the apparatus of this invention they are maintained in fluid condition which means, as previously stated, that they can readily be manipulated for interleaving, insertion or removal of the sheets, the sheets, however, being held secure and in alignment or registry with one another. Under certain conditions as for example when an executive may desire to see all of the correspondence with a particular customer, for a certain period, it is desirable to transfer the sheets containing such correspondence from a fluid to a temporarily non-fluid condition, and the present invention include a novel method of making up a book-type file of such sheets for submission to the executive.

The first step in this method comprises the notching of the rear edges of the sheets comprising the correspondence desired. This step, however, was performed at the time the correspondence was originally placed on the rails of the present apparatus. The next step is the locating and separating of the sheets comprising the desired correspondence, and this is accomplished as previously described. After the group has been formed it is left suspended on the rails, and a pair of cover members, slotted similarly to the sheets, are next placed on the rails one at each side of the correspondence in question. Thereupon, the two cover members with the correspondence between them are removed from the rails as a single unit while maintaining both sheets and covers in registry.

Suitable fastening means, such for example, as pins, of a shape that will be retained by the slots are then passed through the slots of both the cover members and the enclosed sheets and headed over, or heads applied, so as to frictionally clamp the sheets between the cover members. Any suitable and convenient form of clamping device may be employed in place of the pins, as for example, one or more resilient U-shaped clamping members pivoted to one or both of the cover members and having flanges or wings engaging both.

The correspondence thus enclosed by the cover members and providing a book-type file may then be sent to the executive. When such correspondence is returned for replacement in the apparatus the appropriate movable plate 12 is first shifted to release the group of sheets from which the correspondence was originally taken. The position of the sheets is located and the entire book-type file, that is to say, the folder containing the above-mentioned correspondence is re-suspended on the supporting rails. The mechanism binding the two cover members together is then released and the cover members removed from the rails leaving the correspondence suspended on the rails in the same way as before its removal.

The modified form of the apparatus, shown in FIGS. 4-8, is intended to make it still easier to manipulate the groups of sheets and, at the same time, to hold them under control particularly when the sheets are extremely thin, such, for example, as sheets of onion skin, or similar, paper. Such paper is limp and tends to curl and roll unless adequately supported at its sides. The apparatus of FIGS. 48 is provided with movable clamping plates which are not only bodily shiftable in position parallel to their co-operating stationary plates, but which may also be opened along their front edges by a tilting movement about a vertical axis at the rear of the sheets, the mounting of the plates being of a resilient nature so as to give them a tendency to return and to retain their parallel position. Furthermore, these movable plates are provided with a stabilizing portion consisting of a thin resilient extension to cover substantially the full width of the sheets which they are to handle.

Referring to FIG. 4, the general construction is the same as in FIG. 1 and similar parts have been given the same reference numerals with the addition of the subscript a. This refers, for example, to such parts as the back panel member 3a, the end walls 5a and the stationary clamping plates 11a, as well as base 4a. In this form, however, the round rods which form the rails 6 and 7 are replaced by plate-type rails 6a and 7a having rounded edges 23. These rails are formed of a strip of sheet metal with its upper edge portion spun or rolled as shown in section in FIG. 7. The fiat plate-like portion is at an angle of approximately 45 to the back panel 3a and is secured to this panel by a vertical foot portion 24 which may be welded to the panel or fixed to it in any other suitable manner.

In the modified apparatus the movable plates 12a have been changed considerably in their construction and support. Instead of being mounted on one only of the supporting rails, for example, the upper rail 6 (FIG. 1), movable plates 12a are mounted upon both the upper and lower rails 6a and 7a, being slotted for this purpose at the rear margins with an angularly placed slot 25 (FIG. 7) having parallel side which are arranged at the same angle as the plate-type rail. Slot 25 is rounded at its upper end to conform to the rounded rail portion 23. The two slots in each of the plates 12a are engaged with the respective rails 6a and 7a, and the plates are frictionally locked in position on the rails by means of resilient fingers 26 and 27 in the form of still? steel wire springs.

The spring fingers 26 and 27 serve not only the function of locking the movable plates on the rails, but also are arranged to provide a yieldable force tending to maintain the plates 12a in contact with the groups of sheets with which they are associated, but permitting the movable plates 12a to be pivoted outwardly to the position shown in FIG. 6 by a swinging movement about a vertical axis along the vertical rear edge of the clamping plate. For this purpose each of the springs 26 is mounted out of the plane of and to the left of its clamping plate 12a. A distance of only about three-eighths of an inch for this dimension is sufilcient to provide the necessary force couple for restoring the clamping plate to its position against the group of sheets after it has been released by the fingers of the operator.

The springs 26 may be mounted in spaced relation at the left of the clamping plates 12a in any suitable manner. One way of doing this is by striking up from the surface of the clamping plate a projection 28. This is done by a stamping process which first produces a cut 29 in the plate in outline as shown in FIG. 7, and then bends the material of the plate at right angles to form a projection 28. The outline of cut 29 is such as to leave rectangular cut-outs 30 at the corners of projection 28.

Then the lower end portion of a wire finger 26 is wound about the outer end of projection 28 making a complete turn. This places a short portion 31 at the end of the wire in one of the cut-out corners 30, the wire then being bent sharply at right angles so as to he as indicated at 32 against the inner face of projection 28. The wire is next bent sharply into lower cut-out corner 3 0 and then again is bent at right angles against the outer surface of projection 28, and extends up to the rail. In order to secure the wire to projection 28, the metal adjacent the outer corners 30 is swaged, as indicated at 33 (FIG. 8), over the adjacent portions of wire 26.

The direction of the body of wire 26 is approximately at right angles to the line of the notch cut in the plate 12a to receive the rail, and the upper end portion of the wire is bent at right angles to the body portion, as shown at 34 in FIG. 7. This produces a sharp knee or locking portion 35 which projects slightly beyond the near edge of the slot which springs past the rails 6a and 7a as the plate is slid into position on the two rails. The proportions of the wire finger 26 are such that the section 34 maintains a spring pressure against the side of the rail under all conditions. It will be understood that the lower spring finger 27 is mounted and shaped in the same Way as just described for spring finger 26, and that the pressure of these springs continuously urges the plate 12a against its stack of sheets. 7

The widths of the fixed and movable plates 12, 12a, are approximately the same and are from about onequarter to one-third of the width of the largest sheets to be placed in the device. This is indicated in FIGS. 5 and 6. However, for handling limp sheets such as those made of onion skin paper, and the like, the plates 12a are each provided with an extension surface 36 which projects to and slightly beyond the outer edge of the widest sheet to be handled by the device, as also shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. This extension surface is formed of a sheet of extremely thin flexible and resilient material such, for example, as spring steel only a few thousandths of an inch thick, or material of similar resiliency. The margins of the sheet 1211 and the extension sheet 36 are overlapped and permanently secured together in any suitable way which will leave the surface smooth.

The resilience of the extension surface or sheet 36 is such as to cause it to return to its original flat condition against the sides of sheets of paper when it is not being flexed to facilitate the manipulation of the paper. Through the utilization of this highly flexible and highly resilient sheet 36 which I term a stabilizer, the portions of the sheets of any group may be more easily separated along their outer edges and bent or flexed, as indicated in FIG. 6, so as to separate the individual sheets and aid the operator to find the particular sheet desired. When such sheet, or the desired point in the group, has been located, the portion of sheets to the left is slid along the rails to make room for the operators fingers, as before. Whenever the operators fingers release the sheets, the flexible resilient member 36 restores its pressure against the sheets of the group and in this way maintains the desired control of the sheets so as to keep them in upright and substantially vertical position. This prevents the sheets from curling or otherwise becoming deformed under the influence of gravity and because of their being supported in vertical edgewise position.

One of the features of the invention is that the sheets of paper used with the form of the apparatus of FIGS. 4-8 are slotted as shown in FIG. 9'. Here the slots 37 in the rectangular sheet 1a each have straight parallel upper and lower sides 38 and 39 respectively. The sides of the slots are separated by slightly more than the thickness of the plate-like rails 6a and 7a, or in other words, by from about A" to about The ends of these slots are advantageously rounded to conform approximately with the rounded edges 23 of the rails. The upper edges 38 of the slots form the lower boundaries of the downwardly projecting tongues and the angularity of the slots is such that these straight edges bear upon the fiat upper surfaces of the angular plate-like supporting rails substantially throughout the Width of their flat surfaces.

The width of these rails advantageously may be about A", or somewhat more, and the length of the upper edges 38 of the slots being about the same the sheets have a secure and substantial support. The straight angular notches 37 can be easily formed by means of a hand punch or the sheets may have the notches pre-cu-t in them, as desired. This combination of the plate-like rails 6a and 7a with their wide supporting surfaces, and the angular straight slots 37 is an important feature of the invention inasmuch as the straight walled slots resting on the fiat rails provide unusual security for the sheets when the top edges of the slots rest on the full width of the rails.

Although I have described my invention in connection with two somewhat different embodiments, it will be understood that other changes can be made, and consequently, the spirit and the scope of the invention are intended to be set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for facilitating the manipulation of individual flexible sheets which comprises a frame, a plurality of vertically-extending, horizontally-spaced parallel plates mounted in fixed position on said frame, a pair of parallel, horizontally-extending, vertically-spaced, rectilinear, rails fixed on said frame and passing through said fixed plates, on which sheets of paper notched on one edge are adapted to be hung in upright position, a plurality of plates mounted for sliding rectilinear movement along said rails, each of said movable plates being coextensive with a substantial portion of flexible sheets hung on said rails and adapted to cooperate with one of said stationary plates to clamp a plurality of sheets of flexible material hung on said rails against said stationary plate, means slidable along said rails with said movable plates for holding said movable plates clamped against sheets of flexible material hung on said rails between said movable and fixed plates.

2. Apparatus for facilitating the manipulation of mdividual flexible sheets as set forth in claim 1 in which the mounting for the movable plate includes resilient means which permit the movable plate to be tilted on a vertical axis adjacent its rear edge to facilitate separation of the sheets at their outer vertical edge, and, when the movable plate is in its tilted position exert a force thereon in a direction to restore it to its normal untilted position.

3. Apparatus for facilitating the manipulation of individual flexible sheets as set forth in claim 1 wherein the mounting means for the movable plate, in addition to permitting rectilinear sliding movement of the movable plates, also permits said movable plates to be tilted on a vertical axis at its rear edge so as to facilitate separation of the sheets at their outer vertical edge, said mounting means including spring means for urging the respective plates to swing back against a group of sheets hung on said rails.

4. Apparatus for facilitating the manipulation of individual flexible sheets as set forth in claim 3 wherein said spring means comprise a spring finger mounted in laterally spaced relation to the movable plate, said finger having a portion engaging at least one of said rails.

5. Apparatus for facilitating the manipulation of individual flexible sheets as set forth in claim 3 wherein the movable plate is substantially rigid and extends a substantial fraction of the width of the sheets to be handled, and said plate is provided with an extension substantially to the full width of said sheets, said extension being of thin flexible and highly resilient material.

6. Apparatus for facilitating the manipulation of individual flexible sheets as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rails are in the form of flat strips mounted at ap proximately to the horizontal with their forward edges higher than their rear edges, and said forward edges having a rod-like formation extending along the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 561,670 Kosby June 9, 1896 605,975 Robinson June 21, 1898 612,563 Faifer Oct. 18, 1898 770,903 Holt Sept. 27, 1904 1,660,823 Thametz Feb. 28, 1929 2,087,518 Lowe July 20, 1937 2,097,888 Leyerle Nov. 2, 1937 2,200,877 Farkas May 14, 1940 2,235,736 Bruen Mar. 18, 1941 2,358,062 Farkas Sept. 12, 1944 2,460,449 Copeland Feb. 11, 1949 2,716,410 OHara Aug. 30, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 13,363 Great Britain June 15, 1904 492,881 Germany Jan, 29, 1927 

